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Brothers locate graves, photos of Vietnam casualties

Brothers Tom and Jim Reece have found all 1,700 MIA soldiers who either were born, buried or based in North Carolina, including pictures of 1,600 of them. All the information is being donated to the new Vietnam Wall Education Center opening up in Washington, DC this coming fall.

Published: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 2:32 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 2:32 p.m.

"I don't even have the words to express my gratitude for what you have done," Joanne Williams wrote to Wilmington brothers Tom and Jim Reece.

Facts

How to help

Out of the 1,758 missing soldiers located for North Carolina, the Reese brothers have obtained pictures of all but 246 of them. To help them find the remaining 246 pictures for the Education Center at the Wall, contact Tom at foots6918@yahoo.com and Jim at reecejim@yahoo.com.

After 44 years in an unmarked grave, her dad, officer Launey Elworth King, was finally given a headstone and the memorial recognition he deserves, thanks to the Reece brothers.

"When no one else cared, you did," the Rhode Island woman wrote.

Williams' father, who was stationed at Fort Bragg and killed in Vietnam in 1962, was one of 1,758 Vietnam soldiers killed in action who were born, based or buried in North Carolina and resting in an unmarked grave.

The Reece brothers found every single one, even helping find the remains of 40 who had been reported missing in action.They got markers put up for each. They also created online memorial pages on Findagrave.com with the soldiers' pictures. They are still looking for photographs of 246 of the Vietnam-era veterans.

"These men died fighting for our country. The least we can do is keep their memories alive," said Tom Reece.

The brothers' findings will now become part of the new Education Center at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., currently under construction. The center will, for the first time, put faces to the names of those killed in the Vietnam War. Tom and Jim continue to work to track down every last picture of all 1,758 before the "Education Center at the Wall" opens in early 2014.

"It's important these pictures get there for some grandson or great grandson to one day go to Washington, D.C., and see his great grandfather's photo," said Jim Reece.

The Reece brothers share how this quest to find all the state's missing soldiers first began, and why they do it without asking anything in return.

Q. How long did it take you to find all 1,758 soldiers?

TOM: About seven or eight years. Some are found in less than one day. Others take months or years.

Q. What first got the two of you started on this search?

TOM: When my brother retired from the Air Force, he tried to look up some of his old buddies from high school and found out several of them were killed in Vietnam. We said, OK let's look for them. We found pictures of every one, found out where they were buried. We did memorial pages for all the guys missing in action from the Vietnam War from Wilmington. We said, OK let's do New Hanover County, let's do Brunswick County, let's do all of North Carolina.

JIM: There were a lot more killed than the military was reporting. The military listed 1,610 from North Carolina. We found 1,758.

Q. How do you search? How does it work?

TOM: We use ancestory.com, findagrave.com, rootsweb.com, there's quite a few. We have countless volunteers who take grave photographs. They then find out what we're doing and try to help the best they can with research.

JIM: Rosa King of Rowan County went to Oklahoma City to track down a grave and Joe Pasternack of New York City has helped us track down a few as well.

Thomas is more of a private eye. He knows how to search, and then he gets on the phone and starts cold calling. If he doesn't get an answer, he'll call the neighbor and ask them to walk next door and ask them to give him a call.

Q. Are there any finds that stand out to you?

JIM: One of the guys killed in Vietnam from Wilmington that I personally knew, I researched exactly what happened and was able to talk to the family. They were told he accidentally shot himself, but we found out someone else had shot him and there was a cover up.

TOM: Donnie Shue of Gaston County. He was MIA, never found. Two years ago they found his cigarette lighter and a belt buckle. They positively identified his remains. His mama called me crying, "They found my boy!" He died November 3, 1969. Forty-two years later, his remains are recovered.

Q. What's it like when all the puzzle pieces align and you find the soldier?

JIM: It's almost like, bingo! This is just me giving back.

TOM: I usually clap my hands together and rub them. To me, it just blesses my heart to let these people know there are people who still care who haven't forgotten. Never forget.